ELMONT, N.Y. — Brock Nelson scored a pair of goals and the Islanders barely held off another third-period collapse to defeat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 on Wednesday night at UBS Arena.
Holding a two-goal lead after an early third-period goal from Nelson, Joel Farabee pulled one back for the visitors with 4:04 to go in the game to set up a hectic finish, but the Islanders (7-6-5) managed to hang on for their first regulation win in nine games, which came back on Nov. 2 in a 3-0 win over the Washington Capitals. New York had lost seven straight games before picking up a shootout victory on Saturday against the Flames in Calgary.
“I felt like we had a couple times where we played good games and had a one-goal lead n the third and didn’t come out with it,” Nelson said. “So tonight, to capitalize on that even though they made a little bit of a push, that’s huge.”
Ilya Sorokin, who allowed at least three goals in each of his previous six starts and four in five of those, made 34 saves in his first regulation win since Oct. 26 against the Ottawa Senators. It also provided two points on a night veteran forward Cal Clutterbuck appeared in his 1,000th career NHL game — just the 383rd player in league history to reach that milestone.
“It’s a good win for feeling better,” Sorokin said. “It was a good night for us. I wanted to win for [Clutterbuck]. One thousand games, it’s amazing. I’d [keel over] if I played 1,000 games.”
New York’s efforts were helped on a night when their struggling penalty kill only had to go out once after a paltry stretch that saw them convert at a paltry 55.6% clip over their previous eight games. This against a Flyers team that was keen on playing its trademark physical brand of hockey under John Tortorella that borders the line of agitation.
“I thought our discipline was good,” head coach Lane Lambert said. “It’s important to stay out of the box. It doesn’t matter what kind of night it is or who you’re playing. Unnecessary penalties don’t help and we’ve seen that rear its ugly head a little bit and I thought we did a good job of being disciplined tonight.”
Anders Lee opened the scoring just 1:49 into the game — the second-fastest goal scored by an Islander this season — when he stuffed a close-range chance through Flyers goalie Carter Hart at the right post. The Islanders captain did most of the work himself, taking the puck from behind the net and meandering out toward the front while keeping a Philadelphia blueliner at bay. His first attempt was saved before muscling in the rebound for his third goal of the season.
Nelson doubled the Islanders’ lead with 6:50 left in the second period when he tipped in a point shot from defenseman Adam Pelech.
The Flyers got on the board just 1:08 after Nelson’s goal through Cam York. The Flyers’ defenseman was stoned from in close by a sprawling Sorokin on a one-time attempt, but he managed to spin a backhander off the rebound into the back of the net with the New York netminder out of position.
While the third period has derailed the Islanders for long stretches this season — they were outscored 15-3 in the final frames over their last eight games — Nelson picked up his second to give the hosts some breathing room 2:33 into the period.
“We talked about just getting the next one and you always want to be on the attack and be the aggressor,” Nelson said. “Anytime they capitalize, it’s tight. That next one is ever crucial.”
He was the benefactor of sublime vision from Pierre Engvall, who received the puck on the left wing during a 3-on-2 rush from Adam Pelech as the Islanders entered the Philadelphia zone. Engvall stopped on a dime at the circle and sent a cross-ice pass between two defenders to Nelson, who coolly slid the chance home.
The center continued to stay hot of late as his tally was his fourth goal scored in his last four games (4 G, 2 A).
Farabee pulled one back for the Flyers with 4:04 left in regulation when he was left wide-open at the backdoor to slot in a Bobby Brink pass behind Sorokin.
“They’re a team that will try to get into the interior area and try to create havoc that way,” Lambert said. “We knew right from the start that it was going to be a battle… and I thought we did a pretty decent job [keeping the Flyers at bay.]”
